A letter to the state police

July 14, 2008

Here’s what I sent to the public safety office in Massachusetts yesterday after observing an officer enforce arbitrary regulations….

To whom it may concern:

While parked at Nantasket beach in Hull today, I saw a state trooper (I believe it was car 229, but might have been mistaken), wave a scooterist to the side of the road. I watched the interaction from my car and after the trooper left, I spoke with the operator of the scooter.

He told me that the officer asked why the scooter didn’t have a license plate and why the man didn’t have a motorcycle license. The man replied to the officer that the law stated any scooter under 50cc and being driven below 30MPH didn’t require either of those things.

As reported to me, the trooper told the man that this information was incorrect and that the man had better take his scooter back to Scituate because if he saw that scooter and that operator on the roads again he would impound the scooter and arrest the man.

Can you clarify why the state police officer didn’t know the law and when police officers all over the state will be trained on the differences between motorized scooters, motorized bicycles and scooters/motorcycles?

I am a scooterist who rides a 125cc scooter (classified as a motorcycle). I have my motorcycle license and also have a plate for my scooter.

But I’m also the member of regional, state-wide and national scooter groups and would like to be able to pass on to other members what the regulations are.

Thanks for your time.

Sincerely,

Jeff

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Jeff Cutler
Hingham, MA 02043

What do you think? The comments I didn’t make were…

“If the guy is operating illegally, why didn’t the officer impound the vehicle right then?”

“Why is the officer picking on a lone guy on a scooter when there were dozens of cars double=parked all up and down the beach road?”

“Why do they have to wear that funny hat?”

Here’s their info if you want to ask them some questions:

More to come…